Better Software - June 2008 - (Page 12)

Editor’S Pick While working on a recent issue of Better Software magazine, I had an interesting exchange with Cathy, our art director. I had asked her to use an art element to fill a large white space at the end of an article, and she sent me some options to review. “I like the distressed crab,” she wrote in the accompanying email. I opened each attachment to view my choices. The first was a clip art crab—nothing special, just a crab. The second image was a cartoon-like crab with a ticked-off look on its face—a bit too cutesy for my taste. The third image was a red, scuffed-up crab silhouette. It was pretty cool and would fit well with the layout of the article where it would be placed. I emailed Cathy and said, “The distressed crab is cute, but I think the roughed-up one better matches the rest of the art in that article.” Heather Shanholtzer Editor, Better Software magazine hshanholtzer@sqe.com A few minutes later I was in her office and Cathy asked me to show her which crab I liked best. I pointed to my favorite, and she smiled. “That’s my favorite, too.” “I thought you liked the angry crab?” I responded. “No,” she said. “I told you I liked the distressed crab.” And that’s when it hit me. Editors and art directors don’t always speak the same language. To someone who works with words distressed can mean a lot of things, but the first things that pop into my head are worried, angry, stressed out, in trouble, etc. To someone who works with images, distressed is a treatment or a style applied to a picture or a font that causes it to appear damaged or scuffed. That’s a big difference. There can be a similar disconnect in the way managers communicate with the programmers on their teams. Trying to understand how a programmer’s outlook differs from your own is the first step to creating an environment that works well for the whole team. So this month’s Editor’s Pick is “The Proper Care and Feeding of Programmers” by Mike Cohn. Get insight into the innate characteristics that cause programmers to approach problems in ways that leave their managers scratching their heads. Discover what behaviors are likely to cause conflicts and what you can do to work with those traits, instead of against them. Read “The Proper Care and Feeding of Programmers” at www.StickyMinds.com/ editorspick10-5. PointEr the case of the Missing Fingerprint by Jennitta andrea “The Case of the Missing Fingerprint” is the tale of a planning spreadsheet and its effect on three different projects. Learn the impact a single decision can have on a project—and pick up some helpful tools like fingerprint graphs and project timelines along the way. keep reading at www.stickyminds.com/ powerpass10-5. 12 BETTER SOFTWARE JUNE 2008 www.StickyMinds.com http://www.stickyminds.com http://www.StickyMinds.com/editorspick10-5 http://www.StickyMinds.com/editorspick10-5 http://www.rallydev.com/bsm http://www.rallydev.com/bsm http://www.stickyminds.com/powerpass10-5 http://www.stickyminds.com/powerpass10-5 http://www.StickyMinds.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Better Software - June 2008

Better Software - June 2008 Contents Mark Your Calendar Contributors Technically Speaking eLightenment Code Craft Test Connection Management Chronicles Agile Model-Driven Development The Myth of Risk Management Stop the Insanity! Product Announcements 10 Things You Might Not Know About … The Last Word Ad Index

Better Software - June 2008

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